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An emotional Murray, who warmed up for Rio with his second Wimbledon title triumph last month, fought back the tears afterwards describing it as was "one of the hardest matches" he had to play for a major title.

He said: "Emotionally it was tough, physically it was hard with so many ups and downs in the match.

"The fact that it has never been done before shows it's a very difficult thing to do and I'm very proud to have been the first one to have done it.

"It's not easy, especially in four years, for a tennis player. I had back surgery since London and so many things can change - my ranking dropped and I've gone through some tough times off the court, so I'm happy that I'm still here competing for the big events."

He continued: "Getting to carry the flag at the opening ceremony was an amazing experience and I was very honoured. I found that quite emotional.

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"I had to regroup and get my mind on the matches so, to finish it with a match like that, obviously I was fairly emotional at the end. It's been a build-up of emotions over the last 10 days and (I'm) just very happy that I got over the line."

Murray crossed that line in the early hours this morning with most of his Scottish fans still tucked up in bed - with many youngsters returning for the first day of the new school term today.

They awoke to another remarkable triumph, although his family stayed up through the night, enduring the 'four hours of torture'.

His grandfather Roy Erskine was watching in Dunblane along with his wife Shirley, speaking as he waited to see the medal ceremony, he told the Press Association: "Both of us are very excited about the game. It was just fantastic.